2014.11.02 - Unknown Publication - Slash and Burn: Catching Up With a True Guitar Hero

Slash and burn: Catching up with a true guitar hero

by Nancy Dunham

Slash turns 50 next summer, and the guitar legend shows no signs of slowing down.

Rock is his genre. "I like to play different genres with different artists because it's fun, but if you ask what I do, it's rock and roll."

Musical conformity perplexes him. "What is interesting is that all genres are conforming into the top 40 platform. Now all music is sort of the same."

He works fast. "We make our albums very quickly, over the course of a month or so. We don't work on a song for a while and then go on vacation to ponder what it means before we finish it."

He's a micromanager. "I'm a busybody. I need to be involved in everything.Every time you decide to take it easy for a second or let someone else handle something without overseeing it, chances are it will go wrong. And usually it's too late to fix it."

He was born in England. "I consider myself to have strong British roots, but I've been living in America since I was 6."

He loves scoring films. "I love films. I think they are the ultimate entertainment experience, bar none. When you can put a good piece of music with good visuals, there's an emotional quality you can't get anywhere else."

There's no musical master plan. "I really don't look that far ahead. I do what I want to do at the moment. If I start trying to mold my future way down the line, it won't work. Things change. I'd rather have a basic idea of what I'm doing than to try to fine-tune my destiny."

His iconic hat gets VIP treatment. "No, it doesn't have a special handler, but two Christmases ago, I got a leather hat box. I don't wear it in airports, so I got this really nice hat box, and (one of our) security guards usually carries it."

He doesn't mind talking about Guns N' Roses. "It doesn't annoy me at all. My relationship with Guns N' Roses is a very important part of who I am. The only thing that annoys me is when people try to perpetuate negative relationships and go on and on and on about them."

But, there won't be a reunion. "Fans want to re-create a version of what they thought it was. It doesn't exist anymore. It's not there. It's out of reach."

Velvet Revolver, however, is still alive. "It's just dormant and very quiet right now."